Why Harley Davidson finds Indian market fertile for growth

It is to beat the demographic drag in the US, where ageing bikers are fading and newer ones harder to come by, that Harley has reached out across the world to two of the most fertile markets — India and Brazil.

In Milwaukee and London

Two legs bad; four legs good — Animal Farm

Four wheels move the body; two wheels move the soul — Old biker saying

Long before Linux and Lululemon, much before Apple and Beetle, there was Harley-Davidson — the first firm in social branding. Original, distinctive and unique, it was said to offer not just motorbikes but a whole new lifestyle to a generation of Whitmanesque, "badass" Americans who yearned for safe rebellion and promise of the open road.

The saying that "98% of all Harleys sold are still on the road. Only 2% made it home" is only partly hyperbolic. Aside from the rider-mania ("Young riders pick a destination and go. Old riders pick a direction and go," is another Harley favourite), an awful number of Harleys that were produced are still on the road. You could see them at Harley-Davidson's 110th anniversary in Milwaukee in the first flush of autumn, when the iconic company hosted an epic HOG party (HOG, for the uninitiated, stands for Harley Owners Group).

They came from all over the world, including India, riding into town with that distinctive "potatopotato" sound that only a Harley can produce. The story goes that the owners of this storied bike company even patented the "potato-potato" sound that Harley's V-twin engines, each with a 45 degree angle between the cylinders, produce. Partly true; the more mundane fact is that the 45 degree angle is covered under some patents. But yes, they've lived on the potato legend a long time. At the Harley world headquarters in downtown Milwaukee, one saw a conference room bearing the name "Potato".

The Original Garage Start-up

So Milwaukee was where it all began more than a century ago, at a place called Juneau Park. Three Davidsons and a lone Harley kickstarted the project in a garage. In fact, it is a travesty that Hewlett-Packard are credited with the term garage start-up. Harley and the Davidsons cranked up their bikes in a garage a good 25 years before Bill and Dave got going with their oscillometer and other geegaws. That garage has now been moved to the Harley headquarters on Juneau Road in Milwaukee.

Obviously, Milwaukee lacks the cachet of Mountain View or Palo Alto, so Silicon Valley has hogged the term "garage start-up". It was to this midwestern American city, for decades also known for its beers, that the HOGs rolled in by the thousands in late August. Evidently, Harley and barley go well together, and well might it be said now that there is more beer in a biker's midriff than in Milwaukee, which is now down to a single brewery.

In fact, the joke goes that the default demographic of a HOG (itself a perfect moniker; it is also the Harley ticker symbol in NYSE) is economy-sized, beerbellied, torso-tattooed, pony-tailed, leather-jacketed, middle-aged rider. But that it is not take anything way from the way Harley itself is slimming down, working out and reinventing itself.

In fact, it is to beat the demographic drag in the US, where ageing bikers are fading and newer ones harder to come by, that Harley has reached out across the world to two of the most fertile markets — India and Brazil. Last week, some five years after it first rolled into India and started selling its bike through a dealer network, Harley announced that is will begin manufacturing its first new platform in 14 years, the Street 750 and Street 500 motorcycles that were announced in Milan last month, at its facility in Bawal in Haryana.

"India is ready to move from utility bikes [which are what 100 cc whippersnappers are all about] to lifestyle bikes," reckons Anoop Prakash, who moved from the US to head Harley's India operations. "Nothing in the world comes remotely close to the Harley experience." What makes Harley special, aside from the iconic status of the company and its product and brand, is the cultish devotion of its buyers, owners, clients, worshippers, HOGs...call them what you will.

The Harley-Davidson 110 hang-out, with tens of thousands of "badass" bikers, reminded one of an Indian religious yatra. It is not so much the Woodstock of the vroom vroom crowd, but the Kumbh mela (or Oomph mela) of mobike mystics. If Milwaukee is the Mecca of motorbikes, the five-yearly Harley hangout is the Haj of its devotees. The other thing that makes the Harley product unique is the customization. No two Harleys are alike.

Every Harley owner lavishes on his or her bike such care and affection that each specimen sparkles and glows with love. It is similar to many other collectors' craze — say people who own fountain pens. Except, for the most past, Harley owners own only one bike — very occasionally two or three, rarely many. They shine and buff it till it gleams and glints. And when one Harley owner peruses another, he or she gives it the kind of once-over reserved for a much-loved child. The mobike Mecca in Milwaukee thinks India is ready for such devotion.